Database Tracking – 5 Things Every CTO Should Know

With any new product or idea there are bound to a be a few misconceptions. And while big data has been around for a while now, it still isn’t fully understood. The same goes for ways to manage this data. We want to help you clear some of the confusion up. If you read our blog, you will know that we have designed and sell a product that tracks, audits, and archives your data for you. The idea of our product Observato is to simplify your data management, and we think it should be a vital part of any organization’s data strategy. We know that you get inadated by software advertisements all the time which makes you skeptical, rightfully so, so we just wanted to give you a quick run down about 5 things you may not know about database tracking. Our hope is that we might help clear up some misconceptions and give you a better understanding of what we do at the same time.

Our product is designed for business users, not IT professionals. – Do your IT personnel waste valuable time finding and fixing errors for business users such as your customer service representatives? Do you find you are constantly behind on projects and tasks as a result of being in constant demand by the rest of the organization? Our database tracking product solves this problem for you. With a clear, basic UI, search capabilities, a comprehensive legend and more, Observato gives business users the power to find their own data errors, roll back changes, and more.

Database tracking isn’t the same as a database backup. – A database backup gives an organization a “snapshot” of one system, because it takes one picture at the end of each day. This doesn’t give you the full in-depth, detailed account of the day that database tracking does. Want to learn more. Read our blog post on the subject HERE.

Built-in database tracking still won’t give you a full picture. – Most systems come with a built-in data audit log that can show you the last changes made or what was accessed by whom. There are a few problems though. The built-in audit log is limited (it is often designed as an afterthought to the actual product). It can be limited by number of changes, what details you can and cannot see, and more. If you want anything more in depth, you still have to go running to IT. And it can’t track multiple systems at the same time, so you don’t get a full picture.

Database tracking CAN be tied to BI. – Want a visual picture of what parts of which systems are being overutilized and underutilized? Which pieces of data are being changed the most, which users manipulate data the most? A database tracking software can give you these views and more with a few clicks of a button. Displayed in graphical or chart format for you so you can easily report on the status of your data.

Database tracking can help with compliance. – Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to store your data without worrying about limitations or space? Tha is possible. Database tracking not only tracks your data as it is being created, manipulated, or destroyed, but it also archives each “transaction” as well so you can go back 5 minutes later, 5 days later, or 5 years later and retrieve any piece of data. This makes staying compliant painless and makes compliance officers very happy because it reduces their workload significantly!

There you have it, 5 things you may or may not have known about database tracking. So now what? For more information on this topic please download our e-book below. Having a data strategy in place is vital to the overal success of your organization. The more data you take in, the better your strategy needs to be. Please check out our blog on data strategies HERE to explore the topic in more depth.